CHAPTER 165: CHAPTER 165: JOHN SINCLAIR: MODEL STUDENT, BUDDING FEELINGS

"Claire, you finally woke up, we were all starving."

Sebastian looked at the girl walking towards them and waved his hand happily, though his mouth was still full.

After he spoke.

John and Isabella both looked at him speechlessly, thinking he could at least swallow what’s in his mouth before claiming starvation.

He seemed too happily eating to be starving.

Claire raised an eyebrow, her gaze sweeping over the table, and quipped with a smirk, "Your so-called starvation means eating an entire table’s worth of food."

Sebastian’s hand froze, unsure whether to swallow the food in his mouth or not.

After two seconds of silence, he chose to swallow it before speaking again.

"Well, we ordered all this for you, Claire, right John?"

As he spoke, he kept giving John a look, signaling him to pick up the conversation.

John pretended not to see Sebastian’s look and acted surprised instead, "Didn’t you say this was all for yourself, Fatty? Now it’s for Claire?"

He wasn’t kidding about setting him up.

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Sebastian looking at him incredulously, eyes filled with grievance.

Bro, I thought we were in this together, yet you bailed halfway.

Sebastian touched his nose and offered a guilty smile, "Claire, what do you want to eat? I’ll go get it."

Since John had already exposed him, he decided to stop pretending.

"Anything’s fine," Claire replied concisely.

Sebastian was about to get up when Isabella stopped him, leaving him puzzled.

"I’ll get it instead. You don’t even know Claire’s taste," she said.

Without waiting for Sebastian to react, she left with quick steps.

Watching her back, Sebastian felt even more puzzled. Does she really know Claire’s taste?

Just then.

As Harry and his friends passed by after having their meal, they saw Claire and immediately sounded pleased.

"Claire, here for a meal huh."

"Wow, the times you come to the cafeteria can be counted on one hand, yet we ran into you today."

Seeing their exaggerated behavior, Claire gave them a calm glance, "Are you planning to do problems here?"

As soon as she said that, Harry and his friends stiffened, shaking their heads hastily.

"No way, Claire, you take your time eating, we’re heading back."

"Yeah, Claire, you can eat till doomsday for all we care, doing problems in the cafeteria is just impractical."

After saying their piece, each quickly bolted away, leaving the onlookers astonished.

Were they escaping a flood or a beast, running that fast?

"Haha, Claire, you’re quite the shadow over them now," John laughed unreservedly, filled with teasing intent.

"Is that so," Claire suddenly turned her calm gaze to him, "I don’t mind being your shadow too."

John’s smiling lips froze, mechanically watching as the chopsticks in her hand snapped, he almost heard the sound of his spine cracking.

Cold sweat broke out instantly from his back. John supported himself on the table and moved to Isabella’s previous spot.

He smiled apologetically, "Claire, with your looks, there’s no way you could ever be a shadow. That was a poor choice of words on my part."

Upon hearing this.

Claire chuckled lightly, tossing her chopsticks into the trash can, "Are you sure you used to be the school bully?"

Someone so timid.

One sentence left John dumbfounded, and he shook his head, "How could I ever be a school bully? I’m just a well-behaved model student."

Having watched the show for quite a while, Sebastian almost choked upon hearing John’s words.

Bro, did you ever consider how those you pounded might feel when you say that?

Model student my foot, maybe one who eats, drinks, and plays well.

Isabella came back with the food, noticing the slightly strange atmosphere among them, which piqued her curiosity.

"What happened while I was gone?"

Trying to stifle his laughter, Sebastian whispered the earlier conversation into her ear, almost causing Isabella to drop the tray in surprise.

Luckily, Claire reacted quickly, raising her hand to steady it and placing the items in front of herself, then nonchalantly lowered her head and continued eating.

"Thank you, Claire," Isabella smiled, turning to look at John, "If our friend here is a model student, then the apocalypse must surely be near."

Looking at her bright eyes full of laughter, a sense of powerlessness rose within John. He wanted to retort, but couldn’t bear to.

In the end, all his frustration turned into a sigh, and he poked Isabella’s forehead lightly, "You only ever tease me."

Isabella touched her forehead, her heart suddenly pounding faster. Lately, this guy had been acting more and more peculiar.

Claire, watching their expressions, lightly curled her lips, faintly forming an arc.

Tut, someone seems impatient.

Sebastian’s gaze flitted between them, then he put on an expression as if something was off with them.

Noticing this, Isabella’s face grew a bit warm, so she lowered her head to play with her phone to hide her internal turmoil.

As soon as she opened it, a trending topic was pushed to her, causing her to roll her eyes ungracefully at the title.

Why is she everywhere? And "Premiering Soon: The Heiress’s Drama"—this trending must have been bought, too awkwardly.

She casually skimmed through the comments, confirming the saying that one could find talent in comment sections.

[Even though I blacklist her, they keep pushing this. Capitalism shouldn’t be so blatant.]

[It’s all her, day in, day out. Not even officially debuted and she practically lives on trending.]

[Gale Realm’s production directly became the heiress’s. Wonder if the original author will cry themselves to sleep in the bathroom after seeing this trending.]

[How’s this plagiarizer not banned yet? Now openly buying trending, wanting others to know she’s rich and powerful?]

[Initially had a good impression of this girl, but wearing out the trending patience—fan turned hater.]

The top comments were almost entirely full of criticism and disdain.

But soon, a different tone appeared in the comment section.

[Hilarious, how do you know it was my dear Sound Sound who bought it? Could be someone jealous of her, huh?]

[Accusing her of plagiarism. Can you guarantee you’ve never copied anything in your life? We all make mistakes; why nitpick?]

[What’s wrong with my dear Sound Sound being an heiress? Go ahead and have your master born into wealth if it bothers you.]

Seeing Olivia’s fans so proud, many onlookers immediately turned against her.

If fans act this way, how good can the star herself be?

[Ha, I’ve never plagiarized. I’m a grad student at Capital University. Let your heiress get into Capital University if she can, but since she had to copy even for unified exams, getting into Capital might be a stretch.]

Seeing this reply, Isabella silently gave it a thumbs up.

It’s not so much about the difficulty of getting into Capital as it is about whether she could even manage the college entrance exams.

She glanced up at the girl eating, joy in her eyes.

...

Olivia Song saw the comments on her phone and was so angry that she gritted her teeth.

Don’t those people know how to handle things? Naming the title like that just tells everyone she bought the trending.

Fools.

She dialed a number, and as soon as it was answered, she started scolding, "Is this how you usually work at my dad’s company? Do you have any brains? Putting such titles..."

The man on the other end constantly wiped sweat from his forehead, apologizing profusely.

"Sorry, Miss, I didn’t know what the subordinates were thinking."

"Get it sorted out immediately," Olivia Song spat out angrily.

Looking at the blackened phone screen, the man let out a wry smile, showing just how hard it was to serve the young lady. She wanted the trending herself, and now the heat is on, she blames them for the title.

After a while.

The man sighed and directly ordered to fire whoever came up with the title.